A new Japanese restaurant in Ballston may open later this month.

Preparations for Kanji Izakaya have been underway at 4301 Fairfax Drive since at least last June. That’s when a permit application indicated that a new eatery was coming to the sizable former home of Willow restaurant, which closed in 2015.

A representative told ARLnow recently that Kanji Izakaya, which applied for a liquor license in March, is coming soon — perhaps by the end of April.

“It’s for neighbors, it’s for people working in the office, so pretty much for everyone,” the rep said.

Window stickers advertising sushi and ramen are up outside the forthcoming establishment. The restaurant has more than 100 seats inside in addition to the patio, according to the representative.

Kanji Izakaya would be one of several new Japanese restaurants to open in Arlington within the last year.

Gyu San began serving up Japanese barbecue just a few blocks away from Kanji Izakaya last June. Further south, the Japanese street food restaurant Ryu Izakaya opened in October at 3030 Columbia Pike.

A new sushi restaurant, Bluefish Bistro Sushi & Kitchen, also quietly opened at Centro Arlington on Columbia Pike in December.

Bluefish Bistro Sushi & Kitchen, a new sushi restaurant, has quietly opened at Centro Arlington on Columbia Pike.

Located at the corner of S. George Mason Drive and the Pike, the 1,450-square-foot sushi restaurant celebrated its grand opening last month, taking up residence on the ground floor of the mixed-use development next to the Harris Teeter and the Vietnamese eatery Pho Saigon Pearl.

Andy Park, the owner, previously owned and sold a sushi restaurant in Illinois before moving to Northern Virginia in late 2020. He spent the last three years working at Ariake Japanese Restaurant in Fairfax before opening Bluefish.

A prominent “Grand Opening” banner has been displayed above its entrance for several weeks, welcoming diners to savor its various sashimi and sushi rolls, such as the Red Dragon, made with spicy tuna, soft shell crab, cucumber and spicy mayo.

So far, however, Park says the restaurant has not been getting the foot traffic it hoped.

“We didn’t do any advertising,” he told ARLnow. “People don’t know we’re open.”

Centro Arlington, which replaced the long-standing Columbia Pike Village Center in 2019, is a six-story complex that also houses medical and professional offices, an Orangetheory fitness studio, a veterinary practice and apartments.

As a newcomer to the local dining scene, Bluefish faces some competition on the Pike.

In October, Japanese street food and sushi restaurant Ryu Izakaya opened on the ground floor of the Days Inn. Last year another Japanese eatery, Takohachi, opened down the Pike at Penrose Square after relocating from the now-redeveloped Westmont Shopping Center.

A new restaurant specializing in Japanese street food opened last week on Columbia Pike.

Ryu Izakaya, located at 3030 Columbia Pike, on the ground floor of the Days Inn hotel, celebrated its soft opening last Thursday after almost a year of renovations. It moved into the former home of Rincome Thai, a Pike mainstay.

The restaurant serves both lunch and dinner but the owners may adjust the hours a grand opening set for later this month, Panni Satayayuk, the restaurant’s marketing director, told ARLnow.

Satayayuk noted the owners are keen on gathering customer feedback before the grand opening.

“We still try to get feedback from our customers and how they like the soup. How do you like the fish, or is it too sweet? Is it too salty too sour?” she said. “So we are like in a learning process on this our first few days.”

The restaurant is co-owned by two couples, Ben and Bow Jaypakdee and Tony and Jenny Seesiadkhaall, who immigrated to the U.S. from Thailand more than a decade ago, Satayayuk said.

While none of the owners are of Japanese descent, Satayayuk said Ben and Bow have spent the past decade working in Japanese restaurants in D.C. Tony and Jenny, who co-own Absolute Noodle and Sushi Bar in D.C.’s Chinatown, also have backgrounds in Japanese cuisine, specifically making sushi.

The four friends started talking about opening a new restaurant in 2020 when Absolute Noodle started making a profit in 2018, according to Satayayuk. The idea was to have a more casual Japanese restaurant dining experience with smaller plates and a bar that is open late.

“Right now in Japan, they started doing this trend called izakaya,” said Satayayuk. “It’s like street food. People drink at night having like… tapas, but the Japanese version.”

A few highlights from the menu include the Mt. Fuji Roll — spicy tuna, salmon, crunchy tempura and eel sauce — and yakitori assortment.

Satayayuk noted part of the restaurant’s mission was to expose more people to Japanese street food like   yakitori and donburi, in addition to more mainstream staples like ramen and sushi. The other motive was to appeal to a younger crowd.

“In this Arlington area, there’s not many [options for a] younger vibe for Japanese food,” Satayayuk said.

The owners also chose the Columbia Pike location, in part, because it was less expensive to open a restaurant in Arlington than D.C. and there is a lot of new growth nearby.

“The food price would have to be higher to pay for the market rent everything [in D.C.]. So, here is still not easy, but it’s less challenging,” she said.

(Updated at 4 p.m.) A new sushi restaurant has opened in Rosslyn in a long-vacant, off-the-beaten-path space.

Japanese restaurant Yuraku opened about two weeks ago for lunch and dinner, manager Mike Kim tells ARLnow, at 1850 Fort Myer Drive. That’s the long-vacant ground floor commercial space inside of the Turnberry Tower condo building a few blocks from the Rosslyn Metro station.

This is the eatery’s second location, with the original in Germantown, Maryland. The menu at the Arlington spot focuses on Japanese staples like sushi, katsu, tempura, sashimi, and donburi.

Yuraku ownership eyed Rosslyn for its expansion because of the vibrant community filled with residents and office workers that was lacking good neighborhood sushi options, Kim says.

Business has been good so far but there remains the sense the neighborhood doesn’t quite know Yuraku is there yet, he notes. The space is back from the main street with the patio and front door somewhat obscured by shrubs and trees.

The positive of the space, says Kim, is that it provides privacy for those eating on the large outdoor patio.

It was more than a year ago when ARLnow first reported the Maryland-based sushi spot was moving across the river into Rosslyn. That somewhat-hard-to-see space on Fort Myer Drive has seen a good amount of past turnover. It was once home to Secret Chopsticks and Pancho Villa Mexican Cuisine, but both closed less than 18 months after opening.

The space remained vacant for close to four and a half years until Yurkau opened earlier this month.

While there’s no immediate expansion plans beyond Rosslyn in the works, Kim says it’s “possible” that they could look to bring their Japanese restaurant to other Arlington locations in the future.

Japanese restaurant Yuraku is looking to open in Rosslyn by next month.

The Germantown-based sushi spot is aiming to start serving by early April, a co-owner says. The menu likely will be “slightly different” than the menu at the Maryland location, we’re told.

There will also be both outdoor and indoor seating. A permit issued in the summer notes that a new sushi bar was added, in addition to other changes including alterations to the kitchen.

ARLnow first reported nearly a year ago that the restaurant was moving into the long-vacant ground floor restaurant space of the Turnberry Tower condo building at 1850 Fort Myer Drive, a block or two from the Rosslyn Metro station.

The off-the-beaten path location, which is somewhat obscured by shrubs, was previously home to Secret Chopsticks and Pancho Villa Mexican Cuisine. Both restaurants closed in relative short order. The space has been vacant for more than four years.

Yuraku first opened in Germantown in 1998, per its website, and serves sushi, sake, udon noodles, sashimi, tempura, and other Japanese fare. The name “Yuraku” translates to “pleasure,” according to a trademark filing.

Hat tip to Edward MacNabb

Kusshi, known for its sushi and sake, is aiming for an early April opening at Westpost.

The Bethesda-based, high-end Japanese restaurant first announced it was coming to the Pentagon City retail center in June 2021, filling the space once occupied by Nepalese eatery Namaste Everest. That restaurant closed about two years after opening.

Now, Kusshi is hoping to open its doors in less than two months at 1201 S. Joyce Street.

Kusshi was initially supposed to start serving by the end of last year, but delays typical these days (supply chain, permitting, materials) forced the opening back by several months.

Kusshi co-owner Tony Chow tells ARLnow that they decided to make the move to Westpost because the development is owned by the same developer Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT) as Bethesda’s Pike & Rose, where the restaurant opened its first location in 2018.

Chow also notes Amazon’s growing presence in the neighborhood as another major reason for choosing Pentagon City for its next location.

There will be indoor and outdoor seating and the menu will be “similar” as the Bethesda location, Chow says. That includes sushi, sashimi, ramen, katsu, sake, and other Japanese fare. The restaurant also offers omakase, a formal meal left to the chef’s choice.

Westpost has changed drastically over the last two years. That even includes the center’s name, changing from Pentagon Row to Westpost in late 2020.

A number of buzzy restaurants opened last year, including Cathal Armstrong’s Mattie and Eddie’s, Lucky Danger, and Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream.

There are still several more looking to start serving in 2022, including Nighthawk Pizza and Banditos Bar & Kitchen. Target is also planning to open a 34,000 square-foot store in the former Bed, Bath, & Beyond space.

Takohachi Japanese Restaurant is planning to reopen along Columbia Pike, albeit at a different shopping center.

The restaurant expects to open within the next month at Penrose Square, the owner tells ARLnow, provided it can secure the proper county permits in time.

The sushi restaurant was one of the last holdouts at Westmont Shopping Center prior to the development’s demolition to make way for a six-story mixed-use building. It there in early July, but it was reported at that time that Takohachi was set to move into the space formerly occupied by Josephine’s Italian Kitchen, below the Giant supermarket.

That space in the Columbia Pike development hasn’t been occupied in more than two years and has been somewhat of a revolving door in terms of tenants. Prior to Josephine’s, Marble & Rye and Red Rocks had been in the space. Both eateries closed without making it two years in that location.

The newly-renamed Columbia Pike Partnership helped Takohachi make its move down the Pike.

“Columbia Pike Partnership has been actively engaged with Takohachi, the owner, their representatives, BM Smith, and the County in effort to welcome Takohachi to its updated location on Columbia Pike,” writes CPP spokesperson Andrea Avendano to ARLnow. “We are glad to assist Takohachi in continuing to call Columbia Pike home.”

Initially, Takohachi was expected to open earlier this fall, but supply chain issues (recently, a common refrain) and securing proper permits pushed the timeline by a few months.

While the sushi restaurant has found a new home after exiting Westmont Shopping Center, Mom’s Pizza hasn’t. The pizza and Greek restaurant was on the Pike for more than three decades before being ousted due to the redevelopment. The owners of Mom’s are currently selling a few of their more popular dishes online, but told ARLnow back in March they had no plans to retire and wanted to revive the restaurant elsewhere.

A Bethesda-based sushi restaurant known for its high-end rolls and selection of Japanese liquors appears to be expanding into Pentagon Row.

The new eatery, Kusshi, is planning to open in the space currently occupied by Nepalese and Indian restaurant Namaste Everest (1201 S. Joyce Street), according to Kusshi’s co-founder, Tony Chow.

“We’re hoping [to open] before the end of the year,” he said.

Namaste Everest, the Arlington outpost of Namaste in Alexandria, opened in summer 2019, in the storefront that formerly housed a Noodles & Co. location.

Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns Pentagon Row — recently rebranded “Westpost” — was not immediately available to comment. The Rockville-based company also owns Pike and Rose, the mixed-use development in North Bethesda where Kusshi is currently located.

A restaurant employee from Namaste Everest could not confirm the change.

Chow said he has been eyeing an expansion into Arlington for almost two years, adding that he intends to tap into the area’s “live, work and play” lifestyle.

“Arlington has a lot of business and commerce and has Amazon HQ2 going there as well,” he said. “We like to go to mixed-use developments, which is part of our success at Pike and Rose.”

Chow plans to bring to Westpost a large assortment of Japanese whisky and sake to sip while dining on the restaurant’s traditional sushi rolls and higher-end offerings, like wagyu beef and sea urchin.

“Our staff… have gone through courses about sake, there is quite a lot of knowledge there,” he said, adding that diners will be able to learn about the different drinks and sample them.

Chow has another sushi place in Bethesda named Hanaro, a smaller-scale restaurant.

Photo (2) via Kusshi/Instagram

(Updated on 08/06/19) A Ballston sushi restaurant has re-opend after being closed “for repairs” last week.

The Sushi2Go by the entrance to the Ballston Metro’s “Darth Vader canopy” on 901 N. Stuart Street had previously closed for repairs, according to a sign on its door.

The handwritten note thanked customers with a smiley face, but did not contain any information on when the eatery could re-open. On Tuesday, August 6, the eatery is now serving customers once again.

Calls for more information to the number listed on the “We’re Hiring” sign — also posted on the business’s windows — were not answered. No other contact information could be located.

Sushi2Go originally opened in the small space inside the Metro plaza back in 2015 and gained popularity for the low prices of its maki rolls — most recently for its offer of three roll combo lunch deal for $13.

Owner Unsook Kim told ARLnow at the time that she was inspired to open up the take-out business after seeing ready-made sushi chain stores in New York City.

“This is my own style,” she said. “Young people love sushi.”

Kim’s eatery replaced Prime Fresh Deli which once served up smoothies, sandwiches, and wraps in the same space.

Takeshi Sushi — a new Japanese restaurant at 2424 Wilson Blvd — is planning an opening sometime in May.

Owner Wu Lin said the restaurant is planning to offer sushi, ramen, and other Japanese food in a quick-service style eatery.

The new restaurant is located next to Delhi Dhaba Indian Restaurant and under Arlington Rooftop Bar and Grill. Takeshi Sushi is replacing a Subway that closed in November.

Lin said the restaurant is his first location, but they are planning to simultaneously open another Takeshi Sushi in the Fairfax Circle Shopping Center, in the Fairlee neighborhood of Fairfax.

A create-your-own sushi restaurant in Rosslyn has now shut its doors.

Sign posted at Rolls By U, located at 1713 Wilson Blvd in the Colonial Village Shopping Center, indicate that the eatery is now closed.

Yelp reviewers and ARLnow readers reported that the location seems to have shut down in early December.

Rolls by U opened in 2015, serving up bowls, rolls and even sushi burritos. Its owners also backed a Courthouse restaurant, the Guarapo Lounge, but that also shuttered in 2016.

The restaurant also has a location in D.C.’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood, which seems to still be open.